“Why are there no junior positions?”
“Why do companies act like it is hard to find Rails developers?”
“How the hell do I get my foot in the door and move beyond the Junior stage?”
“Why is it so hard to get hired as a Junior developer?”
These are the questions that we struggle with before we can get past this weird barrier to entry.
Yes, companies DO hire Junior rails developers. But many times they don’t advertise it.
I suspect there’s a sweet spot on getting hired as a junior. Either join a tiny startup, or apply to regular “software developer” jobs at larger companies. As they will often have enough experienced developers on hand to mentor junior developers.
Frankly, if you can put together at least ONE complete ruby on rails app, and deploy it to production. Something technically complicated enough that it probably has more than 5 models and 5 controllers, that should be an excellent starting point on getting hired.
The sad thing about the hiring process, is that everyone focuses mostly on work experience, nothing else really matters. Yet, how does one get work experience without getting hired?
Well, a possible shortcut would be to get on some freelancer websites like upwork.com and try to do a few projects in order to build up a track record. You may need to underbid and work for very little money in order to build that track record. It could be frustrating to work for less than $20/hour when starting out. However, once you have a track record of 6 months or a year under your belt, your hiring prospects will improve dramatically. Your confidence and knowledge will have improved. Your interviews will go so much better because you will be able to discuss the problems you solved.